Apr192011

Thune and Noem: Deep cuts needed; Johnson: Increase taxes on the rich

Cody Winchester

In the battle over the 2012 budget, South
Dakota's congressional delegation is sticking to party lines.

Rep. Kristi Noem
and Sen. John Thune, Republicans, say deep spending cuts are necessary to rein
in an anticipated $1.5 trillion deficit, and they say it can be done without
raising taxes. Both see the budget that passed the Republican-majority House
last week - a budget that would slash spending and taxes and radically
transform Medicare and Medicaid - as a workable, if imperfect, blueprint.

In voting for the House budget, Noem said
the mushrooming national debt was choking the life from the economy, calling
President Obama's proposed budget "nothing more than the status quo."

Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson, on the other hand, says the House Republican
budget - largely crafted by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan - would shred the social
safety net while giving a break to millionaires and corporate interests.

At a news conference Monday in Sioux Falls,
Johnson said political leaders should "cherry-pick" the best ideas
from the major budget proposals from Ryan, the White House, the Obama
Administration's fiscal commission and the so-called Gang of Six, a bipartisan
group of senators who are trying to hash out a budget compromise.

But Johnson said the hammer should fall hardest on those who can most afford
it.

"It's time for those who have prospered the most from working and doing
business in America to help with the federal deficit," he said.

He said more substantive details about his
budget priorities would emerge in the coming weeks but said he favors cutting
subsidies to oil and gas interests, raising taxes on high-income earners to
Clinton-era levels, closing corporate tax loopholes and trimming some fat from
the defense budget.

Asked whether any federal spending is off the table, he said Social Security
"is as close (to) untouchable as can be."

Adding fuel to the debate, Standard &
Poor's Ratings Service on Monday downgraded its outlook on U.S. government
debt, expressing doubts over the ability of Washington to bring the deficit
under control.

"The S&P news should be a wake-up call to Washington that the status
quo on spending is unacceptable," Noem said in a statement. "The
budget plan passed out of the House last week might not be the perfect
solution, but it is the only comprehensive plan offered so far that would
reverse the debt-fueled collision course we're currently on."

Kenneth Blanchard, professor of political science at Northern State University,
said that while Ryan's budget contains some "rosy assumptions" about
the economy, it's a more serious take than what's being offered by Democrats,
who are using the Ryan budget "as a weapon against Republicans."

"You know, it's, they're going to eat
babies and throw grandma under the train," he said. "That's politics.
It's hardball. But it's hard for me to see that the president is interested in
real reform."

Blanchard said it's unrealistic to believe that the deficit can be closed
without both spending cuts and tax increases.